The Dragon's Key
by Bookgeek102
Summary: Lucy finds a mysterious gate key with the symbol of a flame on it, come to find out it is the key of the long lost dragon spirit, Natsu. Read to find out more!


**I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters, I just like to sail my favorite Fairy Tail ships ;)**

_Fire consumed me. To my very core, all I felt was intense heat. Pulsing through my veins, swirling in the air that I breathed. I grasped at his shoulders trying to ground myself in any way I could from the all-consuming feeling. He looked up at me his eyes resembling reptilian ones with glowing green irises and pupils that formed into thin slits. I moaned as he leaned in and nipped at my bottom lip with his sharp fangs, a smirk playing on his lips. _

"_Now you're mine" was the last thing I heard._

**One Month Prior**

"Are you absolutely sure we're going the right way Happy?" I said with a sigh as my blue exceed companion and I pushed through the thick underbrush of the forest for the second day in a row. Well I struggled to walk through it as he happily flew a few feet above me.

"Geez Lucy have a little faith! I'm a cat after all and we are known for our excellent sense of smell and direction" He chirped happily.

"Dogs are known for their excellent sense of smell and direction, and your not actually a cat your an exceed happy…" I grumbled exhaustively as another branch smacked against my leg. We were members of the well-known Fairy Tail guild and had chosen a job to find a long-lost treasure deep in a forest on the other side of Fiore.

It took us two days on the train to arrive to a nearby village where we stayed a night being de-briefed by an old man named Eiji Katobi. He was the one that put in the job request and he owned a local museum and wanted the treasure found to add to his collection. He was offering 1,000,000 jewel for whoever could bring it to him, and that would cover my rent for so long I couldn't help but take the job.

Happy has been my partner ever since I joined the Fairy Tail guild a year and a half ago, and we went on every mission together, even if he got on my nerves sometimes. We also liked to take our friends Erza, Gray, Wendy and Carla with us too but they were already on jobs when we chose this one.

"Why does the stupid map to the treasure have to be so confusing anyway?" Happy complained a few minutes later and I sighed. He was right on that one, all we received to help us find the treasure was a crumpled piece of paper with a small riddle scribbled on it that said _"Deep in the trees is a dragon's keep, the path is treacherous and very steep, gold and flames is what you will find, but be sure to be swift and keep in mind, only a heart that is celestial and pure, will be able to find the door." _

The note was found in an abandoned castle near the forest we were currently in, and there was a well known cliff deep within it that not many people have been able to journey to because of the dangerous terrain. So Happy and I figured that must be where the clue is talking about, but the only part we are unsure of is what it means by only a pure heart will be able to find it. It was also strange that it said there is a dragon's keep, but dragons arent still around...are they?

I screamed as I grabbed onto a branch to find a snake slithering on it and hissing at me. Happy swiftly dove down and grabbed me before the snake could strike at me and we flew up above the trees. Happy had been carrying me on and off as we wondered, but I didn't want to exhaust him so I would tell him to let me walk for most of it. But once we reached above the trees the monstrous-sized cliff in front of us came into view.

"We finally made it Lucy!" Happy exclaimed excitedly before dashing through the sky towards our destination. We slowed once we neared the cliff to start searching for the hidden door with a sky view. After about an hour of flying close to the edge of the cliff, I started to wonder if we were wrong to think this was the right cliff.

"So… heavy…" Happy started to over exaggerate by straining his face "Lucy you really need to lay off all the cake… your getting almost as bad as Erza" My eye twitched in annoyance at my blue companion but as soon as I went to open my mouth to say something snarky back, a twinkle of light caught my eye.

"Happy look right there! Something is shining on the side of the cliff!" I pointed excitedly towards the small shining spot that was at the base of the cliff.

"What are you talking about Lucy?... I don't see anything there at all" He said as he started to make his way in the direction I was excitedly pointing to.

"What are you talking about? Are you blind? It's right there!" As we approached, the shining spot came more into view and was clear to see.

"I think something is wrong with your eyes not mine, there's nothing over here, just dirt. And weeds" he said as he set me down carefully on the forest floor next to the area on the wall of the cliff that was very clearly shining golden light, so bring I could barely look at it.

"Geeze Happy! I don't know what's wrong with you but it's right here, I can see it as clear as day."

"Maybe your starting to go crazy from being in the forest for too long, I mean you were already crazy in the first place so this was probably the last straw..." Happy said before I heard him quietly snickering to himself. I rolled my eyes and instead of giving his rude comment a reply I cautiously approached the light before carefully reaching my hand up to touch it. As soon as I touched it, a wrinkle appeared on the dirt wall surrounding it before a tunnel appeared with torches that simultaneously lit on either side of the tunnel. I gasped at the discovery and looked at Happy "See, I told you this was something!" He just stared at me with a confused look on his face.

"Well, um Lucy… I don't know what you see but I think you might need a doctor… All you did was touch the wall and nothing happened" he said with some concern laced in his voice. I was flabbergasted, did he seriously not see the magic tunnel that just appeared _right in front of him_?! Then it hit me, only a celestial person with a pure heart could find the treasure, did that mean I fit the description but Happy didnt? I started laughing out loud and felt my ego go up a few notches that I was considered celestic with a pure heart.

"Happy what if only I can see it because i'm the only one that is pure of heart?" I said with a smirk playing my lips.

"Hey! I have a pure heart too! I'm just an innocent little kitty… Well other than the one time that I stole a fish, okay maybe it was five fish from Mira, but that was it, I swear! Okay nevermind there was also the time I…" He started to prattle on as I reached out to see if I could go through the newly appeared passage, when my hand went in without any problems I started to step in.

"Just wait out here okay Happy? I'll be back out in a few minutes 'kay?" he saw that I was starting to disappear through the entrance and his jaw dropped.

"Wait! There seriously is a passage in there? It looks like your walking into a wall like some sort of ghost or something!" He exclaimed before also trying to fly into where I was entering only to hit the wall hard and slowly slide to the ground.

"Happy just relax and wait here" I repeated before giving his fuzzy head a quick pet before completely emerging into the passageway and walking down it cautiously. I kept my hands hovering my gate keys just in case some trouble was waiting around the corner. I walked through the magic-flame lit hall for another few minutes before I saw it open up into a large theatre-sized room.

My jaw dropped at the sight, gold and sparkling jewels covered the entire room, chests overflowing with jewelry of all kinds and silver sparkling in the light. _How much was I supposed to grab for the client? Happy and I couldn't take all of it that's for sure, and to be honest when I read "long lost treasure" I didn't expect to find so much of it, I thought it was only going to be a piece or two, maybe a golden vase with rubies or something but nothing like this._

All of the sudden a particular item stood out to me, it was a golden gate key! I screamed in excitement before running over to it, but then it hit me, _how is it possible for another golden gate key to even exist? Between Yukino and I we have all thirteen of the Zodiac keys, don't tell me there's a fourteenth!_ I slowly reached out to grab it and when I touched it a light pulsed from it and it heated up quickly, I dropped it with a yelp as it burnt my hand from the quick touch.

I stuck my burnt finger in my mouth before grabbing a handkerchief I had in my shorts pocket and tried to pick it up again. But when I lifted it up it wasn't warm through the cloth, it actually felt ice cold, _how strange_ I thought as I inspected it more closely, it had a symbol of flames on the handle and looked beautiful. "Well if I'm going to keep anything this will be it!" I said with a sneaky grin and I put it in my pocket carefully.

I then looked around to see if there was anything that really stood out to me to bring back to the client when I saw a small chest of ancient-looking jewels and coins and decided that would work best for his museum, I would keep the remainder of the treasure a secret I supposed.

I made my way back to the entrance of the tunnel while carrying the heavy small chest in my arms, _this will be a __**long**__ trip back_ I thought to myself already feeling tired. When I got to the entrance I carefully stepped out to see my little blue companion wasn't waiting for me, instantly I was worried.

"Happy! Happy if this is a joke its not funny! Get you little blue butt back here!" I yelled to no avail, I started to look on the ground for any sort of clue to where he went to see boot tracks that led into the thick forest, _oh no_.

Someone must've caught him by surprise and taken him! I started to run following the heavy tracks, but after a few feet in the brushes the tracks started circling all over and there was no was for me to make any sense out of them. Panic started to set in and out of nowhere a huge calloused hand clasped over my mouth and another muscular arm grabbed me around my shoulders and chest trapping me.

"I let out a muffled scream and the man behind me let out a creepy chuckle, "Looks like we found ourselves a sexy little blonde boys! What's this luck out in the middle of nowhere, and she brought our treasure right to us, how kind."

The man holding onto me from behind turned us around to face another ten men with creepy smirks staring at me, one was holding an unconscious Happy tied up and thrown over his shoulder.

"Happy!" I cried out but it was muffled by the man's huge dirty hand, then one of his men came up to me and snatched the treasure from my arms and I was quickly tied up. The man that captured me saw my pouch of gate keys and snatched them off my hip.

"Trying to hide these from us eh? Sneaky, sneaky little girl" he said as he wagged his sausage finger in front of me, if my mouth wasn't tied up I would've tried to bite it off. I started to panic, my gate keys were taken away, my partner and only escape was knocked out cold and I was tied up. Suddenly I felt something pulsing in my pocket, at first it startled me before I realized it was the new gate key I found.

_I haven't even had the chance to make a contract yet though… I don't even have a clue of what will come out of the gate if I do call for the spirit… Well I guess I have no choice, I need to save Happy and my other spirits! I just hope they are a useful spirit for this particular situation. _

I started to slowly move my tied up wrists to carefully pull the key out of my pocket, it burned a little but I pushed through before lightly flicking the key behind my back doing the motions to call upon the spirit as I muttered as quietly as possible "I command you pass through the gate at once!"

All of the sudden the ground started to shake a little as the key heated up to an unbearable temperature in my hand and a bright orange and golden light flashed all around me, blinding me temporarily. I blinked a few times as the light faded slowly and was replaced by an extremely intense heat, I looked in front of me where a very muscular man with pink hair appeared facing away. He wore baggy white pants, sandals and what looked my an open vest, but I was only looking at his back so I couldn't tell for sure.

He slowly turned his head to look at me, his skin had scales adorning his cheek bones, arms, and his eyes were a bright green with reptilian looking slits. He stared at me with an intense gaze, my heart pounded heavily and it felt like time slowed for a minute,_ what is going on with me? Why is my heart pounding, and why am I blushing so much?_

An animalistic growl emitted from him and he started to approach me, but before he made it to me a voice interrupted him. "Hey! Who the hell is this dude and where did he come from?" The man that tied me up had come up behind the pink-haired man I just summoned, _oh that's right! I summoned him he's gotta do what I say right? _

"Hey um could you help me out by untying me and saving my other keys and companion?" I asked but all the words came out muffled through the cloth on my mouth, without looking away from my captor, the pink-haired… Spirit? Moved his hand back behind him aimed at my face and a burst of flame engulfed my tied mouth and hands and I shrieked thinking I was going to die but the fire didn't hurt me at all, it just burned away the ropes and cloth. I jumped up and ran next to my new companion.

"Thanks for that, so um my name is Lucy Heartfilia and I promise right after this we can set up a contract I just really really need your help right now" I said sheepishly, he just slowly looked at me, he seemed to be studying me intensely but I wasn't sure why, my cheeks blush darker than Erza's hair at his staring. He then looked at the group of tough-looking opponents in front of us and he moved in a flash, my eyes couldn't keep up with him as he punched, clawed, and burned the group of men in front of me.

I stood and stared, unable to move as my new spirit went to work on the group of bandits, I then jumped into action too pulling out my whip and catching some of the men's ankles and flinging them into nearby trees. Before I knew it, all the men were unconscious, hopefully thats all they were since he seemed to really do a number on them. I ran over and untied Happy.

"Happy! Happy please wake up! Are you okay?!" I yelled as I shook the tiny exceeds body. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at me, "Lucy! Your back! I'm sorry they grabbed me and I was so scared-" He started to cry a little in my chest as I cradled my little best friend in my arms. I looked up to see my new spirit looking at me intently. He slowly extended his hand to reveal my gate keys, including his, I jumped up and grabbed them from him.

"Thank you again! You saved our lives!" I said happily as I attached my keys to my hips again. Happy looked up at the spirit confused and looked back at me "Who is that Lucy?"

"In the passageway I found a new key! It's a golden one that I've never seen or heard of before" I said excitedly, "What's your name by the way? I'm so sorry I didn't ask already" I said as I smiled apologetically at him. His eyes widened and a tinge of pink colored his cheeks, suddenly the scales disappeared and his eyes turned into pure black ones and they were shaped like human ones instead. He blinked a few times and grabbed his head as he slowly looked around like he was confused.

"Where am I?" he asked with a raspy voice and he looked at me and his blush deepened even more, causing me to blush a little back.

"Um your in the middle of a forest, I summoned you to help take care of these bandits, don't you remember?" he shook his head as he looked around at the unconscious men lying all around us.

"How did you find my key? How is this possible…" He looked very troubled as he asked me.

"Well… it's a long story actually" I started before telling him the entire story about our mission, the clue we were given, and how I saw his key that I have never heard of. "So what spirit are you and what's your name?" I asked again, he looked very deep in thought.

"My name is Natsu Dragneel and I am the Spirit of the Dragon." _The Dragon Spirit? I never heard of that before, not even in old celestial spirit books in the Fairy Tail archives. I would have to ask Horologium about it later. _

"Would you want to make our contract now?" I asked kind of hopeful, he seemed so powerful and I wanted to learn more about him.

"Well… I actually don't make a contract like a normal spirit would, and I don't use your power to stay in this world once im summoned" He replied I was surprised, I didn't notice until now that my power has not been draining at all this whole time.

"Okay then how about for now we just get out of this forest and away from these creeps and we can talk about everything more later okay?" I said with a smile, he then nodded and we grabbed the clients treasure and started to walk the long journey back to the town. _What was the story for this spirit? Why have I never heard of him before? And why did I get a warm feeling in my chest everytime he looked at me?_

**It's probably just heartburn Lucy XD Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new story! I am sorry if you are waiting on one of my other stories like A Royal Fairy Tail or A Fated Fairy Tail, i promise those will be updated very soon, I just got back into my writing groove again and I've had this story floating in my laptop for a while so I decided to finally upload it. Trust me, it's going to be getting good, some lemony goodness potentially in the future ;) As always please R&R!**

**-Bookgeek102**


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